DUET, The Vertical Village , Nijmegen/ Niederlande

 

 

Our design for Duet, Nijmegen’s tallest residential tower, is an optical illusion. Seemingly two slender structures, it enhances rather than dominates the city skyline. Inside, we stack a wide range of homes to form a socially inclusive vertical community, while freeing up space for a beautiful green park that creates room for nature and human encounters.

 

 

 

 

Powerhouse Company,

de Architekten Cie.

 

LOLA Landscape Architects 

 

VanWonen

 

Nijmegen, NL

 

50 000 m2

 

Concept

 

 

 

We work together with de Architekten Cie. to create ground-level spaces with the addition of social and ecological value: a new city square and a large green park. We do this by concentrating Duet’s built area in a 120-meter-high tower. The park, designed by LOLA Landscape Architects, reinforces the green corridor that runs from the central station and along the Nijmegen’s waterfront. The garage wall below Duet becomes a ‘new city wall’ with a permeable mix of greenery and social functions. Ramps run up to the rooftop park, making it accessible for locals from various points in the neighborhood.

 

 

We give Duet’s ground floor an open, extrovert nature. The inner square in the plinth brings the dynamic of a city square inside and makes for a lively entrance area. With an urban living room, a café, atelier space and other functions, it’s where residents meet. Flowing into a leafy public square and the multi-level landscape outside, Duet joins up with the green corridor and the wider city scape in a continuous flow of spaces. A key element is our cunning transformation of the huge parking garage required by the brief from a potential eyesore to an asset, by using it to add an expansive rooftop park that further weaves Duet into its green surroundings. 

 

Nick Huizenga, Project Architect

 

 

Warm and welcoming, our sustainable wooden grid signals the entrance of Duet, where an interior public square acts as an extension of the square outside, connecting all parts of the building and offering a lively public program. We ensured that the 120-meter-high tower blends in rather than sticking out thanks to its slender and staggered form. The layers of Duet correspond to different heights in the city, establishing strong connections with Nijmegen’s built environment. We use wood as much as technically possible in the construction, both for its circular qualities and the friendly, open atmosphere it creates. The other predominant material in the tower is brick: a congenial and traditional material, with strong local connections.